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Mumbai Indians' recent decision to appoint Hardik Pandya as their new captain for the 2024 IPL season, taking over from the highly successful Rohit Sharma, has stirred up considerable discussion in the cricketing world. Wasim Jaffer, a former Indian cricketer, weighed in on this significant move, highlighting Hardik's relatively limited captaincy experience. Although Hardik led Gujarat Titans commendably in the past two seasons, Jaffer pointed out that his leadership experience is confined to his IPL tenure with GT and does not extend to captaining his state team.
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"I'm surprised that MI has moved from Rohit Sharma so early. It happened so quickly, I'm also a little surprised. When they did the trade, it was probably communicated to Hardik that he was going to become the captain. But whether it was communicated to Rohit, I don't know," Jaffer said while speaking on ESPNCricinfo.
Hardik's journey with Mumbai Indians has been quite notable, contributing significantly to the team's triumphs between 2015 and 2021, before taking up the captaincy role at Gujarat Titans. His leadership was instrumental in the Titans' remarkable performance, winning the IPL in their debut season in 2022 and securing a runner-up position in the following year.
The change in leadership at Mumbai Indians has also fueled speculation regarding Rohit Sharma's future in T20 cricket. After a heartbreak in the ODI World Cup final against Australia at home, where India won 10 straight games only to fall at the last hurdle, questions loom over Rohit's role in the shorter format of the game. While his participation in another ODI World Cup appears doubtful, there is still a chance that he might make a comeback to captain India in the T20 World Cup, which is just six months away. This leadership shuffle at Mumbai Indians thus marks a pivotal moment, not only for the franchise but also for the careers of both Pandya and Sharma.
"It will be interesting to see if he (Rohit Sharma) will captain in the T20 World Cup, that is going to be seen. Because, then again he is captain and Hardik will play under him. So, how does that happen?," Jaffer added.
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